


You Were Ringing in my Ear

by cashewdani



Category: Disney RPF
Genre: F/M, On Set
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-02
Updated: 2009-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-15 02:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1288225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cashewdani/pseuds/cashewdani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Joe can't believe they're sitting here having a conversation about bug juice while he's in the process of trying to figure out where these feelings came from and wondering why all of a sudden he really kind of wants to kiss her.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Were Ringing in my Ear

It's raining for the second day in a row and the crew's given up on trying to make it look like August in spite of the fact. This is a Disney Channel Original Movie, and it doesn't rain in those films unless there's some sort of emotion that needs to be conveyed by the weather.

The tutors have completely taken advantage of the situation and are trying to force everyone into catching up on their assignments, and that is officially the last thing Joe wants to be doing. But, of course, Nick's busy working on some biology questions because he's Nick, and Kevin is using the Playstation and knows that Joe has an English essay due so he won't let him get anywhere near the controllers.

Basically, Canada's boring. Even when it's not raining. Way more boring than he thought a movie set would be. But whenever Joe brings this up, Nick's telling him what an amazing opportunity this is for them and Kevin wants him to appreciate it because they're all seriously so blessed. And both of them are right and Joe knows that on a good day, but right now all he's looking for is a little excitement. Something that's not all about work and structure and being told what to do.

He's been walking around the campsite trying to avoid anyone that will make him be productive, and the weather's at least helping tremendously with that. His sweatshirt is getting wetter and heavier by the moment, but it's nothing he can't handle. He just keeps the hood up and his hands jammed in his pockets and knows that he'll be able to con Kevin into letting him shower first if he comes in later all shivering and soaked.

It isn't until he passes the dock, water furiously slapping up against its sides, that he remembers what the last thing they managed to film was. Mitchie and Shane bonded here back on Tuesday when the sun was out, and Joe realizes that's the answer. Demi will give him something to do, at least for a little while, and if he can't hang with Nick, she's probably the next best thing.

Working with Demi has been pretty awesome. She's got a great personality, and can make him laugh and seems way older than she actually is. Joe is starting to think there must have been something in the water back in '92 because her and Nick are definitely more mature than he was at 15. They're probably even more mature than he is right now if he's going to be honest. But he likes her, and he's happy she got the part because Joe can't imagine having to deal with a horrible co-star on top of feeling so caged in.

Plus, it doesn’t hurt that she’s kind of ridiculously cute.

The rain's picking up, so he starts to run, stumbling through muddy patches and almost tripping over a tree root he didn't notice. Somehow, he manages to make it over to the trailers without any major incident unless the damage done to his shoes counts as one.

Demi's door is closed so he knocks out some half-assed version of a drum solo Nick's been working on and she's telling him to come in before he can even really get into it. Which is probably for the best. Inside, she's sitting on her couch, bent over a notebook, and he asks her, "What are you doing?"

"Studying for a history test," she says without looking up. "You need something?"

"Yeah, what I need is for you to stop doing that and entertain me."

She puts her pen down and stares at him. "You're dripping on my floor."

"So? It's just water."

"Take the sweatshirt off and we'll talk." Demi pauses. "And those shoes."

Joe looks down at his muddy sneakers and can't really argue. "Fine." He slips them off and begins to peel the hoodie from his shoulders. "Do you have a hanger or something?"

She rolls her eyes. "You are a mess."

"Hey, I _am_ asking for a hanger. Give me some credit."

"Use the hook over there." She points to the left of the door with her pen, and he delicately hangs up his clothes, smoothing down the arms until he hears her laughing. "Joe, seriously, what is the deal with the purple?"

He put on a lilac t-shirt under the sweatshirt this morning and he knows it's a good look regardless of her reaction. Plus, there's at least one forum online devoted to his fashion style and its awesomeness and a couple of hundred members can't be all that wrong.

Because she's being kind of a bitch, he stares her down deadpan and says, "It's because of Barney."

Joe likes that this wave of anxiety crosses over her face and it was worth eavesdropping on her portion of the _Girl's Life_ interview to find out she was on that show a few years ago. "Barney?" she asks.

"Yeah, you know, the big purple dinosaur. I thought you were like great friends with him, Dem? Went way back?"

"You're an ass," but she's smiling and Joe smiles back. It looks good on her, being able to take a joke like that.

"Really, I just like purple."

"And keeping your sweatshirts pristine?"

"Yes, clearly. I need to look good for my fans." He flops down on the couch next to her, sending a textbook clunking to the floor of the trailer. "You'll understand by the time this movie opens."

"Will you teach me how to press my socks so they're perfect?"

"All in due time, Dem." She's still got her notes out on her lap so he says, "Put those aside, let's talk. You promised."

She makes no move to do what he's asked. "I did. But make me a deal."

"What?"

"After we talk, you finish whatever you're supposed to finish. It's embarrassing for me to be friends with the oldest senior on the planet."

"Demi, you're hysterical. Maybe you should go into stand up instead of acting." 

"Maybe I should, because then I can keep my socks as wrinkly as I'd like."

He's surprised that she seems to honestly care about this. Usually the only people who are this interested in his grades are related to him. "You really want me to promise I'm going to work on my English essay?"

"I do. So, you'll work on it?"

"Yes, Momma Dem. I'll write the best paper on _No Exit_ my teacher has ever read. Good?" 

"Good. Now, I can do this." She drops her notebook on the coffee table and Joe can see that the pages are completely filled with outlines and notes. This set is starting to make him think that maybe he's abnormal for being a teenager and not caring about high school, even though that's clearly insane. "Do you like History or something?"

"It's alright, but it's not like I have a choice about studying it."

"Yeah, well there's studying, and then there's whatever it is that you're doing here." He goes back a few pages and sees that there's four alone on chapter 13. "I think you've honestly written more than the author of the book did."

"Whatever. By the way, your hair is a lot curlier than I thought it was," she says, and Joe self consciously runs his fingers through it. There's no point in ironing it when it's raining and he doesn't have to, but he wishes that he had anyway.

"Yeah, it probably looks pretty dorky right now."

"Oh, it does," she says with one of those big smiles he's come to expect from her. "But, in a good way. Don't worry."

"Believe me, I wasn't," he says, even though he kind of was.

Joe starts flipping through her notebook a little more intently because he feels like he's blushing, stupid as that is. It turns out that not all of the things in here are for school. Demi's doodled flowers and a few dogs that are made entirely out of circles and those crazy S's that look like really fancy paper clips in some of the margins. It slightly makes up for her other studious indiscretions.

But most impressive is towards the back, where she's written down a bunch of lyrics. They're good. Like _really_ good. And Dem's just sitting there quietly, letting him read them and it feels like kind of a big deal. Like he’s special for getting to see them.

"These are pretty amazing", he has to tell her and now she's the one half-hiding behind her hair. It makes him feel better and like he kind of wants to push it behind her ears so he can see her face. Which makes him feel weird all over again.

"Um, so, besides writing some awesome lyrics and appearing on Barney, what else should I know about you? You're like chock full of secrets."

"Well, what would you like to know?"

He’d like to know what brand of perfume she’s been wearing the past few days because it’s different than the one she had a few weeks ago, or whether she sometimes finds Mitchie’s bleeding over into her or if she ever feels like this is all too much even though it’s something she really wanted. But none of that is stuff that he can say out loud. So he just asks her, "Did you ever go to camp when you were a kid?"

"No, did you?"

"Almost every summer." And that's really been the biggest problem with the shoot he thinks. Because the thing is, Joe had thought it was going to be kind of like that all over again. The friendships that feel more real than anything has ever felt before, and days that are long and short at the same time, and these intense crushes on girls that come out of nowhere.

Apparently, he just needed to be a little more patient.

"Tell me your favorite thing about it."

He's trying to clear his head and shake the infatuation off, so he doesn't say sitting around a campfire and holding hands with a girl when the counselors weren't looking, even though that would be the truth. "The bug juice. Definitely the bug juice."

Demi pulls her legs up on the couch and angles herself so she's facing him instead of the door. "Do you think Mitchie's mom has a bug juice recipe?"

"If she knows what's good for her."

"What's in bug juice anyway?"

"I honestly have no idea." Joe can't believe they're sitting here having a conversation about bug juice while he's in the process of trying to figure out where these feelings came from and wondering why all of a sudden he really kind of wants to kiss her.

He’s got to stop looking at her, or he’s going to do something stupid like touch the back of her neck and tell her that her tag was out. So, instead he leans back and moves the curtains aside from the window to see that it's still gray and windy out. And raining. Of course. "We are never going to start filming again."

"We'll do some indoor stuff tomorrow, I'm sure. Plus Alyson heard that they might even bump up Final Jam if the weather stays bad because there aren't any windows in the theater."

Joe sits up a little straighter and rubs his hands on his thighs. He just got an idea, and it’s even lamer than the tag thing but, he’s going to run with it anyway. "Our famous kissing scene."

"Oh, is there a rewrite I didn't get?"

"No. But, what if there is one? Wouldn't you like to practice? Just in case?"

"Joe, it's Disney. There's not going to be a kissing scene. I'm surprised that we're being allowed to hold hands without gloves on." It's a valid point, but he's on a roll.

"So what happens if we're up there, you and me on that stage, and Matt says he wants us to do a take with it in? Wouldn't it feel better to be prepared?"

"That's like learning to fly a plane in case something happens to the pilot when you're on a flight."

"Well, I just think it's good planning, Demi." He notices that she's hiding her hands in her sleeves, and won't really look at him. "Wait, you have kissed a guy before, right?"

"Yes, Joseph. I've kissed a guy before. What about you?"

"Nope, no guys." Joe grins at her, a little high on his own bravery. "Really, it's just so if we have to kiss, it'll look natural. It's not really that big of a deal."

"You're being ridiculously adamant about this." But, she doesn't sound mad. It's just like she's stating a fact.

"I take my acting very seriously."

"Well then, that may be the only thing you feel that way about."

He faux-grimaces. "Wow, Dem, don't hold back or anything. How do you really feel?"

"I just want you to know that you're not necessarily treating me with the respect that I deserve as a young lady. What would Mr. and Mrs. Jonas think?" He can tell that she's kidding and that her resolve is possibly weakening.

"I am being super respectful! I'm asking you, aren't I?"

"You are, that's true. And all this would be is a kiss?"

"Yes, one kiss, very professional. We can stop whenever you want." Joe looks at Demi in her sweats and this long sleeved thermal shirt like the ones his mom used to make them wear under their costumes on Halloween and he so desperately needs her to say yes.

"Okay. I'm game."

"Really? Okay?" He's sure he's maybe imagining this. His plans are rarely this successful.

"Yes, dummy. What are you, chickening out?"

"Of course not! Let's do this."

Demi takes the toothed clip from her hair and the rest of it tumbles out all messy to cover her ears. She hums a few bars of "This is Me" and then puts up her palm. "First, we hold hands."

"Yes," he says, interlocking his fingers with hers.

"Then, we smile," which she does, beautifully, and he does as well even though he's having a little trouble breathing.

"And, after you look into my eyes like I'm the prettiest girl you've ever seen, which you're doing really well right now, we kiss."

"We do," Joe says, much more quietly than he'd intended.

She nods, like she's giving him permission and then he's got his free hand pulling her in by the back of her neck. Her hair's a little damp, like it didn't finish drying after she washed it, and he can hear the rain gently falling on the metal roof of the trailer. For the first time in days, he feels calm, like this was just what he was looking for to soothe his restlessness.

Demi's tongue darts out into his mouth, tasting exactly like a piece of Bubble Tape. And it's supposed to be one kiss, but this isn't just a kiss because Demi whimpers a little and Joe feels himself get hard. Like kind of crazy hard and she's not stopping. With a hand on his chest, she's leaning him back onto the couch, climbing into his lap and straddling his waist. He groans directly against her lips and she shimmies a little, making him wish that he wasn't wearing his tightest pair of jeans.

Joe can't believe this is happening because a couple of minutes ago he was too bored to do homework.

Eventually though, they have to stop and breathe and Demi's just resting her forehead against his. Looking up, he can see that her pupils are completely blown out and that her cheeks are so pink they almost look sunburned.

She whispers into his hairline that she thinks that's only going to make it in the movie if they're releasing an unrated version and he has to agree. She has her entire chest flush up against his and he can feel just how fast her heart his beating.

"We should stop," she says, and he wants to say, "Yeah," and yet, get right back to kissing her. But, he can feel her finger moving the silver ring on his hand, and knows that he can't. It wouldn't be the right thing to do.

"I've got to finish that _Beloved_ paper anyway."

Demi sits up and reaches to put the clip back in her hair. " _No Exit_."

"What?" He thinks for a second that she's being weirdly cryptic and then that he wishes she’d keep her hair down.

" _No Exit_. Your paper isn't on _Beloved_ , it's on _No Exit_."

"Right, exactly. That." Joe’s brain feels like it’s not firing the way it’s supposed to. Maybe because he just got Demi to rehearse a kissing scene that’s never going to exist and it’s focusing on whether this means she likes him or wants to be the best actress she can be.

He grabs his sweatshirt off the wall and it's still pretty soaked but he puts it on regardless. While he's flipping the hood up, Demi says, "You weren't kidding when you said you take your acting seriously." 

"First time for everything, Dem," and Joe heads out into the storm, trying desperately to cool off.

Back at his trailer, Nick’s playing a new melody on the guitar and gives him a weird look when Joe won’t say where he was and immediately sits down with his laptop and a copy of _No Exit_.

\---

When they finally shoot the last part of Final Jam, Matt has them doing take after take, and during every one, Joe just wants to lean in and slip his tongue into her mouth.

Demi keeps smiling and cracking jokes and each time he takes her hand, it's warm.


End file.
